Aquarius—Drabbles of a Fallen Guardian
by Illusions of Insanity
Summary: She is the starry sky. They are the earth. Plucked from the sky and stripped of her wings she is trapped among sinful, selfish mortals. Aquarius can still feel the burning, blistering pain in her featherless wings as she travels through the Protectorate. She didn't know a mission to stop a knight would tie her to three mortals, the very thing she's trying to save the Fyggs from.


_**Beginning**_

Butterfly wings flutter for the first time as the young celestrian tries their best to fly. She is small and impatient, but determined as well. Struggling up on frantic feathers, blue eyes devour every shade of the turquoise sky. Only when the fluffy embrace of white falls away does she panic, realizing that her little plight was too soon. Falling faster than she thought possible, the little sky-dweller expects the worst. Eyes slamming shut, the tiny form imagines spiraling downwards and crashing in the abyss of green below, becoming just a speck of a broken doll in the Protectorate.

Her fall is broken by a strong hand calmly grabbing her celestrial uniform and dragging her back up to the safe haven of the Observatory. Sapphires gleaming, the umber-haired figure looks up to find the bald guardian of Angel Falls standing before her with a stern look upon his face. Despite the rough facial features, his eyes are laughing, humored by her trial. He is soon joined by Apus Major, the grand and ancient celestrian leader. Black eyes turn to the aged guardian before the towering figure utters a simple sentence with a great meaning.

"Her. Aquarius will be my apprentice."

* * *

 _ **Training**_

The sounds of battle are terrifying.

Aquarius is a gentle celestrian, not a vicious one. Looking the monsters in the eye is a horrible ordeal. Anger, fury and devilish glee swirl in their beady eyes. Down in the Protectorate, it is do-or-die. A false step can result in death for the mortals that dwell there, and injury for those who try to protect them. Only with Aquilla by her side can she charge ahead and take a swing. Blue burst from green as the strange vegetable-like beasts fall motionless and disappear. Panting for breath, the little one looks up to find her mentor giving her a pleased nod. The duo then turn to watch the travelers move on, the youthful girl with blue hair talking eagerly to her grandfather. The two mortals leave with the safety given to them by the gaurdians of Angel Falls and a prayer of thanks on their lips. The dark-haired celestrian smiles and feels the warmth spreading through her wings, the white gleaming in the sun.

Her mentor motions for them to leave, his black eyes once again humorous and gentle. The much younger apprentice nods before taking a moment to prune her wings, cleaning them of the blue left behind by the monsters. They then leave with a vibrant burst of light. A few of Aquilla's feathers swirl in their wake, disturbed from his wings by their swift recall.

Not Aquarius's. Her wings are precious; never would she ever want to see even a feather fall from her glorious wings.

* * *

 _ **Fall**_

This wasn't supposed to happen.

The air is sharp with excitement and longing as the Starflight Express pulls up beside the great Yggdrasil. The celestrians' eons of servitude is over. As winged figures soar towards the golden train, a rumble engulfs the Observatory. Aquarius, Aquilla and Apus Major struggle to remain standing under the great tree, fear in their eyes. Bright yellow light sparks in the distance and a golden beam bursts through the clouds and strikes the great tower in the sky. The ground crumples and towers fall as the whole world seems to tear apart below them. The Starflight Express breaks into pieces before diving below the clouds and disappearing. Screams of confusion, yells of fear and cries of anger rise up as the winged guardians are seemingly punished for their selfish desire to quit their designated job and join the Almighty in the realm above their own.

The violent ground shoves the youngest celestrian away, abandoning her. The tiny body easily falls over the side in the confusion, slipping away from the Observatory and heading straight to the Protectorate. Aquilla rushes over to the edge only to grasp at air with fear in his eyes. Butterfly wings flutter in panic as the air rushes straight through her bright wings. Abruptly, a feather slips away and rises above her head. Aquarius lets out a horrified scream as feathers pull away from her body and float above her head, disappearing into the blue that was her home. She can only watch as the towering majesty of the celestrians is ripped apart and tossed aside as she is, falling to the earthly dwelling of mortals.

She doesn't care. All she can do is scream and desperately grab the shedding white as her beloved wings are painfully, slowly taken away feather by feather, leaving only a blistering red behind.

* * *

 _ **Awakened**_

When Aquarius wakes, she is somehow right in the arms of her own guardian statue. The stone embrace gives nothing but cold and distance as the fallen sky-dweller lets out a cry of pain. Looking over her shoulder and through her dark hair, she finds her worst nightmare. Her wings are shattered and featherless, limp and bleeding. Holding back a scream she retracts the once beautiful things into her back, hoping that this is all a terrible dream and that she will spread her feathers wide and soar in the sky once again. Even so, she cannot bear to look at such an ugly thing. Tears sting at her blue eyes as she holds back her pain. She is strong because she knows Aquilla will find her. The broken form knows that the bald celestrian is out there now, searching for her. He will rescue her.

Aquarius _was_ rescued, only not by her mentor. Instead, a blue-haired girl finds the celestrian in the arms of the guarding angel, cradled by the stone arms of the great being. To the fallen one's surprise, the girl _sees_ her. She pulls her away from the chilled stone and whisks her away, taking her to a mortal dwelling and tending to _actual_ _wounds_. The little guardian is cold, distant and numb as the girl introduces herself as Erinn and quickly asks if there is anything else the dark-haired female needs. All Aquarius can do is lay there and slowly shake her head.

The mortal cannot bring back her feathers or mend broken wings.

* * *

 _ **Namesake**_

"Aquarius? Why, that's the name of our guardian!"

The blue-eyed, once-winged female can only nod in silence as the pain of her wings races up her shoulders in hot bolts of lightning, screaming out at her in agony and questioning _why_ were her beautiful feathers stolen away and _where_ is Aquilla and _how_ can these humans see her and _what_ blasted the Observatory and _why, why, why did she lose her wings_? The grandfather beside the human girl makes it obvious that these two are the travelers Aquilla and Aquarius saved together, before the last piece of benevolence was gathered and the Observatory crashed around them.

Aquarius even ignores the way that they question her, wondering if she had been born in Angel Falls. After all, they say, no one knows of our guardian's name but the ones living in their town. The name of the stars is never one of a mortal. Only the great, winged celestrians can hold such fantastic things as their own name.

All she can do is struggle to ignore the pain in her wings and hope that she can soon leave this small place.

* * *

 _ **Stornway**_

Aquarius only manages to escape after a month of living in the small town she had just been assigned to protect. Bitterness grows deep in her chest as she rushes off, praying that Aquilla will find her and that her wings can be salvaged. The pain in her hidden, featherless wings are still throbbing, keeping her awake at night and reminding her of just what she's searching for. Blue eyes stay stormy as she stumbles across even more helpless mortals that are desperate for aid. A part of her wishes that she could just ignore them and move on; it was not her problem now that she had fallen from the sky. However the guilt in her heart tells her otherwise and forces her to help, delaying her trip to the nearest kingdom by a good week.

It is in the forest in between Angel Falls and Stornway that Aquarius meets Stella, a chipper fairy who claims to be the conductor of the Starflight Express. Eagerness bubbles over as the two stumble across the train's engine, crashed in the trees and just waiting, begging to be started up and sent racing for the heavens. Bitterness devours their joy as they find the train out of commission, too damaged to fly.

Just like her.

The abandoned celestrian tries to leave Stella behind, but the sassy and loud little thing just will _not_ take no for an answer. Instead, the pink-winged creature flies beside her and constantly talks to her, trying to get the dark-haired female's attention. Only when they stumble into the kingdom of Stornway does the talkative fairy finally grow silent. The fear of being seen dies as person after person recognizes Aquarius not as a guardian, but as a mortal. The two members of the feminine kind just trudge to the nearest tavern and hear remarkable stories, tales that make the blue-eyed celestrian jump out of her seat and nearly rush to the door.

The Fyggs, the golden fruit that the celestrians have tended to for countless centuries, have fallen to the Protectorate and been taken into the hands of man.

* * *

 _ **Terra**_

Mercenary work is apparently enough to pay for a few nights lodging.

Killing monsters in the nearby fields and solving petty problems for busy mortals, Aquarius manages to earn a few coins and afford better gear. As much as she treasures her celestrian clothes, the beasts here can rip into her flesh and wound her too well. A full coin purse in hand, the celestrian wanders back to the kingdom's gates. With the gold conveniently dropped by the she-slimes and strange walking fungus of the area, the not-quite-brunette can afford a new sword and shield. With that, she can accept a few more jobs and head out to see what all the fuss over a knight is about.

A flash of black catches her eye and suddenly the fallen angel is sent flying backwards with wide eyes. The precious bag of gold slips from her fingers and is instead taken into the awaiting grasp of a mortal with brown eyes and black hair, his smirk burning through her vision and infuriating her. A gleam of metal catches _his eyes_ and Aquarius knocks him away with her sword, forcing him to drop the coins and fall on his back. The human flinches as she slowly walks over with her weapon ready, swaying in her grasp with a silent promise.

Instead, nothing comes. The seemingly late teenager looks up to find the celestrian coldly offering a few spare coins, her pale hands letting them slip through her fingers and land on his tattered cape. Golden flashes of light trickle against his skin as he scoops them up, too desperate to remain suspicious and to worry about another attack. He looks up to see her turn away with her coin purse in hand and her sword withdrawn. He does _not_ see the fairy floating at her side and nagging her to take another look at the thief and somehow see some redeeming quality in him. Her feathered boots slam against the cobblestone as Aquarius walks away.

To her surprise, the black-haired teenager jumps to his feet and follows after her with a stuttering, confused apology. Her blue eyes do not take a second glance as he rushes ahead of her and blocks her way with outspread arms, just like a pair of wings about to take flight. The celestrian stops just enough to blink at him as he stands in her way with searching eyes. Brown orbs narrow in thought before his arms abruptly fall to his side and he outstretches a single, dirtied hand.

"Name's Terra. Might I ask who you are?"

* * *

 _ **Ventus**_

Against her better judgement, Aquarius allows the thief to tag along. Terra is weak in resisting temptation; it is obvious to her celestrian eyes that his soul is churning violently and trying desperately to find some sort of stability in _something_ , whether it be sin or blessing. Multiple times she catches him reaching out for a bit of food from a stall or a coin purse that's dangling on someone's unattended hip. Each time she finds him the excuse is the same. _"Force of habit,"_ he claims. _"Takin' is like a second instinct."_ When asked what the first instinct happens to be, the dark-haired celestrian is appalled to find that it is _"Not being caught by the gaurds."_ Every inch of her higher fiber is dreading him, hoping that the scoundrel will lose interest and walk off. Instead he stays behind her and even tries to hold back his straying hands—if a such thing is possible for his lowly kind.

The shaky excuse for a team heads over to the Stornway church, hoping for some sort of blessing in heading out to face off against the terrible knight and perhaps some holy water for Terra to bathe in—not only does his soul need cleansed, but his flesh smells worse than a manure pile that's been soaked in the rotten juices of spoiled fruit. The grand doors of oak swing open against Aquarius's hand and a warm feeling similar to home washes over her. The shifting rays of sunlight through the stained glass pictures of Yggdrasil and the Almighty, the smell of oaken pews and aged ink and best of all the holy water give her mind a tranquil sort of ease. This place is not the Observatory, but it is close enough in spirit to ease that sick feeling in her chest for the moment.

Her blue eyes drift over the long stretch that leads to the pulpit and her shoulders ease at the sight of the aged, bearded man waiting there with his nose in a familiar book. The burning feeling of her wings hidden in her back seem to sting less as she looks at the man. He is short and obviously wise, just as the great celestrian leader is. It takes great control not to rush up to the priest and call him Apus Major as she gives him a respectful bow and forces the quivering thief she brought along to do the same with a rough hand. The elderly priest welcomes them with open arms, even the grubby Terra. He treats them both as equals, making confusion rise in the celestrian's mind. She has never sinned once in her life. Terra on the other hand sinned only minutes ago when he stole her coins and heartbeats ago if you counted the greedy way his eyes lingered on an elderly woman's purse. She does not have long to dwell on this discovery as the priest lowers his head in prayer for the two travelers, even going so far as asking the Almighty to forgive Terra's past transgressions and to aid him in staying strong against temptation—as if that would even help him now.

Aquarius's eyes shimmer in thankfulness as she tilts her head in silent thanks. A flash of motion catches her eye and suddenly she finds that the priest has an apprentice beside him, a girl around their age with silver hair. It takes a moment to recover from the shock, but the celestrain eventually does. This silver-haired teenager looks at her with searching, curious eyes. Judgement is absent from her gaze. Instead it is filled with warmth and hopefulness. The look confuses the young celestrian, but she decides to ignore it. Instead she stretches out her clean palms as the priest hands her a loaf of bread, a gift to any travelers who stop by. Terra's earthen eyes are gleaming with desire at the mere sight of the food, but she shoves the look aside. Aquarius gives the priest a bow of thanks before tucking it away in a bag she had purchased somewhere in Angel Falls that seemed to be enchanted and able to store nearly anything she picked up.

The young celestrian turns away and walks out the front door, the organ music fading out of existence. The gnawing pain in her wings returns and along comes the homesickness, her heart yearning for the endless sky below her and the stars gleaming around her. She longs for the world of purity and sinlessness as she walks through the grubby streets and tries to ignore how Terra's eyes haven't left her bag since the bread entered it. celestrians are vastly superior to the selfish, heartless and sinful mortals below them; her training told her so. She was always reading how the mortals would take advantage of each other. They were desperate by design. The only thing keeping them from all falling apart were the very few that contained a spark of good within them, people such as the girl Erinn and her grandfather.

"Hey Blue-Eyes," Terra whispers as they near the castle gates, the thief never receiving the honor of knowing her name. Aquarius turns behind her to find the black-haired teen pointing to the swarm of people behind them, his messy hair ruffled from ducking in and out of the individuals in Stornway. "That priest is following you."

Confusion swirled within her before suddenly a silver gleam flashed in the swarm of color. Soon enough the teenage apprentice was behind them with wide green eyes. Wearing only the very basic gear you could find in the shops around town—and therefore looking like she was wearing a bathrobe—the female priest clings to her staff with a nervous grip. Stella flies out of her hiding place to take a quick peek and suddenly the girl's eyes burst wider than ever, acting as if flabbergasted at something.

"I-It must be true," she squeals, joy covering her voice with a thick blanket. Her voice is light and airy, hard to hear against the bustle of the kingdom. "You have a fairy with you!" The celestrian gives Stella a baffled, confused look only seconds before Terra does a second-take. The boy with messy black hair only sees the umber-haired female in feathered armor, nothing more. Before he can speak up, the silver-haired girl enters Aquarius's personal bubble and gains a childish gleam in her eyes.

"You _have_ to be a celestrian," she whispers, quiet to prevent the thief beside them from overhearing. Aquarius now feels the shock and surprise that the priest's apprentice felt only heartbeats ago, the burning of her wings becoming more acute with the mention of her species. "You have that gleam in your eyes, just like the books said celestrians do." Awe washes over her eyes as the apprentice beams. "Your armor, too! It's just like in the pictures!" She's close enough now that Aquarius can tell that the silver-haired girl has dark green eyes, similar in color to the pine needles she's seen on her way to the castle-surrounded city.

The priest-in-training steps away now, ignoring the confused babbling of Terra. "I'm Ventus. I'm in training to be a priest." Her eyes shift to the black-haired boy and he's struck silent, his mouth slamming shut at the serious glint in her eye. "I've been trying to get this sinner in our church for _months_ , but he's harder to catch than a fish with your bare hands!" Ventus then looks back to the celestrian as Stella hides away, whispering in the dark-haired female's ear that a priest would help greatly in any expedition. "If you didn't mind, I would like to accompany you on your journey to face the Wight Knight."

"Oh yeah," Terra sneers. The two females turn to find him looking at the priest with a skeptical and slightly offended glare. "Just what would offer us in battle, priesty?" His brown eyes are sharp as he stares her down with his arms folded across his chest. "Are you going to pray the monsters away?"

"I can heal," Ventus states simply. Her dignity prevented her from glaring at him as her staff lifted just a bit higher. "I also can cook, clean, recognize helpful items and even know Stornway and the surrounding areas like the back of my hand." She slowly pulls out a vial of holy water as the celestrian thinks her offer over. "I also have holy water. It keeps the monsters away if you're not looking for a fight."

"Deal," Terra nearly shouts, his eyes gleaming at the mere mention of food again. His brown eyes turn to see Aquarius staring at the priest with a thoughtful eye. It is then that he realizes that her eyes look a bit different than any other blue-eyed girls he's seen before. The blue in her eyes is deeper than normal and has a very noticeable darker shade of blue around her pupils. He's surprised that he hadn't seen it before now. He doesn't think on it for long. Aquarius gives the silver-haired hopeful a nod before turning around and heading back for the castle, hoping to be granted permission to hunt down the Wight Knight.

* * *

 _ **Aqua**_

By the time the not-so-merry band of three reach the lakeside where the Wight Knight ran to, another person had already been granted permission.

Blue hair flutters madly as a mage hides behind a tree, charging a spell. The male mage, as they soon notice, is wearing little armor. He only seems to have the same robe as Ventus and a staff, no shield to protect him from any attacks. Aquarius hardly notices him. Instead her blue eyes catch the flash of darkness that is the dark knight, the terrible problem of Stornway. She ignores how the others talk to the mage; she has bigger problems than a mortal with a bad impulse control. The dark-haired celestrian is too focused on the prospect and strong possibility that this knight has a Fygg.

His strength is too great for a mere mortal to achieve.

Aquarius tosses back a shield to the mortal only after the hissing of Terra, who was too invested in hiding from the threat. The fallen guardian fears nothing. Brave steps crush the weak-willed grass. The threat to the kingdom's security turns his ugly head to find her glaring up at him, her sword at the ready and the feathered armor still against her chest. She decided against changing out of it for now; the new shield of tortoiseshell would suffice for now.

"So, you've come to face me?" The knight's voice is like a phantom, weak and rasping. His eyes are hidden away from her sight from this angle, making him seem like only a mountain of black metal and a snorting stallion. "You will not stop me from claiming my princess! I must finish my quest!"

Aquarius kneels to the enemy before rushing forwards and trying to hit him with her own blade. The Wight Knight counters with ease, knocking her back into the waiting arms of her new priest. Ventus lets the celestrian rise to her feet before summoning the sheltered thief and mage with a quick wave of her hand. The blue-haired mage is shorter than the rest of them by nearly a foot, something that immediately strikes the dark-haired female and sticks in her mind. However despite appearances, the mage is the same age as the mortals, somewhere in his late teens. It mattered not to Aquarius; her only focus is that Fygg. Mortals do not deserve the wondrous fruit.

"The name's Aqua," the mage grumbles. Blue eyes shift to meet black eyes and a serious face. The mage's hair seems to rise high above his head, giving him the only illusion of height a male could muster. "I came here to destroy this knight, but I found out early on that he's not interested in fighting only one opponent. He wants more than that; he wants to fight a group of enemies singlehandedly."

"You can take 'em!" Stella flutters out quickly, her pink sparkles gleaming in the afternoon sun. The grass sways around them as the birds scream above them somewhere in a startled panic. "You see that blue sky?" The energetic fairy points to the sea of blue resting above the lake, her smile wide and oblivious to the magnitude of pain the mere word brings to the grounded sky-dweller. "That sky is just yours for the taking, Aquarius! All you gotta do is beat this monster and fix my train!"

Aquarius nods in a bitter agreement as the wings hidden in her skin crawl and burn with pain again. She grimaces against it, drawing the attention of the rest of her team. Aqua blurts out some sort of plan as he heals the celestrian, offering his aid to defeat the horseman. The mortals of the unit quickly agree to his offer while their leader silently nods in reluctance. Blue eyes shift back to the black metal only to slam shut as her feet charge ahead, decimating the ground and tearing up greenery with careless boots.

She cares nothing for the earthen world. The only thing Aquarius wants is to rejoin the birds and other celestrians in the realm of the stars. If that meant forming some sort of 'party' and facing off against devious mortals in search of the stolen Fyggs, then so be it.

* * *

 _ **Brigadoom**_

The four struggle to breathe as the viper stands before them, her amber eyes gleaming in the damp world of the crumbling kingdom. The Wight Knight was no enemy. Instead he was a spirit lost in time and searching for his beloved, the princess of Stornway from centuries past. The current princess was like her reflection, matching her in every way except her name. The ghost was lost and heartbroken. With a home of stones and a heart left dead, his only wish was to find his princess and keep his promise to her. It was a heartwarming tale for a mortal spirit; Aquarius had not expected a human to show devotion. Such things had been corrupted long ago, she had been taught. It made some sense for the ghost to carry such a quality. Was he not of the forgotten era? Still this meant little as she looked a demon in the eye.

This venomous monstrosity had poisoned the knight and kept him as her own, trapping him within a deep slumber and treated as nothing more than a toy to her. He struck her fancy and so she took him. Such typical behavior from a demon. Typical of man, typical of demons. They were no different when it came to taking what they wanted. Even so the celestrian bared her teeth and glared at the purple-skinned beast. With a scarlet dress and bat-like wings, she was the picture of a seductress. Demon or not, she would fall at Aquarius's blade.

The dark-haired celestrian rushes ahead as Aqua and Ventus cast various helpful spells. The two call such things 'buffs' and insist that the tingling sensation was a normal aftereffect of the magic. It did not ease Aquarius's mind as the tickling sensation felt so close to the burning of her wings. Her rage bubbles up in her throat as she ducks under a clawed hand and slashes the monster on her back, cutting through red material and releasing black smoke that tries to suffocate her attacker. Aquarius simply jumps back with a twisted face of anger. This demon did not take her wings from her but she was more than happy to tear her apart as if she had. Morag spits out a curse at the 'pretty one' before attacking with her sharp claws. The blue-eyed form stumbles back as a strange red substance slips from the spot Morag's claws gashed her skin.

Blood? Only mortals shed blood.

"Blue-Eyes!" Terra runs after the confused celestrian, giving the demon a few slashes with his blade as he slips past. He gently moves the fallen guardian back, his brown eyes confused. "What are you doing? It's just a bit of blood. Ventus over there will blast you with a healing spell and you'll be just fine." Aquarius looks up to find him giving her a surprisingly serious look, his earthen eyes sharp and urging. "C'mon; just attack with me for right now. You can't expect to win a battle singlehandedly, you know. We're here for a reason."

The celestrian only gives him a confused look. Help her? They couldn't possibly be serious. Even so, they helped her with facing the Wight Knight. Against the screaming part of her mind that claims that mortals are selfish and bitter, Aquarius rises to her feet and nods at the thief. Terra gives her a beaming grin before rushing ahead and striking Morag's side. The demon lets out a scream and swats him away, her crimson claws gleaming in the dark. The long-haired celestrian stands tall and launches her own attack in between a few quick magic spells from Aqua and a quick mending from Ventus.

A strange rhythm forms as Terra and Aquarius attack side by side. Every attack the mortal launches the celestrian mirrors, making sure to make a cut that much deeper and release the horrible smoke of the demon. Every jump is matched by a landing of the other; they are a pendulum working against the rotten Morag, avenging the Wight Knight and his long-gone love Princess Mona. Blue eyes become cold and sharp as the enemy grows weaker and staggers back. It was almost like a song. Aquarius was the lead with Terra on backup, each one matching tempo while Aqua adds in the base and Ventus gives them a sharp accent, spontaneous and yet orderly to this strange chaos.

Soon Morag is falling on her knees and gasping for breath, her amber eyes wild and accusing. With a glint of malice in her eyes she launches a strange attack at Terra, a cloud of pink smoke that smells suspiciously like fine perfume. The black-haired thief is unable to dodge and instead he stands there and takes it. His body grows stiff before he suddenly drops his sword. Shock slips in Aquarius's veins as he slowly walks over to her, his brown eyes sleepy and hypnotized. The celestrian stands up with a look of pained bafflement as the boy stops beside the demon. Morag just grins as she lets her blood-painted nails trail over his pale skin, grinning madly as she describes the spell to be the same one she had used against the Wight Knight years ago.

For some reason she can't explain, the celestrian is disgusted. That sinful creature had the nerve to lay her claws on a mortal. Despite how sin-stained the thief was in the eyes of a winged guardian, that gives her no grounds to take him away as he did the Wight Knight. Instead Aquarius growls as if a caged animal before breaking her silence.

 _"Terra!"_

The rest of the party snaps to the umber-haired minstrel as Terra just grins. Before anyone can question the sound of her voice the black-haired teen snatches a concealed dagger from his cloak and stabs the demon in her chest, watching as the pride in her eyes dies and she dissolves into purple and black smoke, becoming little more than a scream in the air that cries out in anger. Aquarius watches as the boy smiles, collects his dagger and turns around to face her. The strange gleam in his eyes is gone and instead pride and laughter takes its place. Her hands shake as she realizes that she had spoken for once, breaking the barrier that kept her from interacting with the band of mortals that she had somehow gathered in the span of one mission.

"There's no need to shout," the black-haired thief responds coolly, acting as if his leader did not speak for the first time and the first word she said was in fact his name. "I told you, we're here to help you. If you wanted in on my plan beforehand, you should have spoken up then. Being silent since you first met can really be a hindrance to planning a battle, you know."

And as the others head closer to them with shouts of praise and cheers of triumph, Aquarius only nods in response. Plucked from the sky and stripped of her wings, she is destined to comb the Protectorate in search of the golden Fyggs that mankind craved with tainted fingertips. She is the starry sky above. They are the earth below. By all means they were inferior, mortals beside an immortal. And yet...they are her only chance at repairing her shattered wings and soaring once again.

* * *

 _Author's Note: Just some drabbles I wrote for Dragon Quest IX. I caught this idea on a whim but I don't really have the motive or time to write something big. So, I thought I would just write a few drabbles. There's definitely a theme with their names, by the way. I recently realized that the celestrians are all named after constellations (which made me facepalm since it took me so long to figure out) and I thought that it would kinda cool if the party mirrored this slightly.  
_

 _I kinda wrote this all from memory. I finished the game_ years _ago, so this might not be completely accurate to the plot. For that reason I'm just going to say that there are some AU elements in this (such as the heroine not going back to the Observatory after finding the engine of the Starflight Express) and that I'm kinda bad at remembering the first half of the plot. After all, the game came out in...what? 2009? 2010? It's been a very long time any way you slice it.  
_

 _Kinda thinking of a one-shot for this but again, I need to start focusing on stuff better. Ugh, willy-nilly updates do not make happy readers._


End file.
